Dear Building Change Together Participants,

Due to the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we have decided to postpone our March 24-26 training for Building Change Together at the Crowne Plaza Concord/Walnut Creek. Your health is our top concern—and we are especially aware of the risks posed to people with vulnerable immune systems. Therefore, to live into our value of equity, we will offer the training in June to provide an opportunity for everyone to join us more safely. Please stay tuned for the specific dates. Please note: You will need to re-register once the training has been rescheduled.

We encourage you to call 925-825-7700 to cancel your hotel room reservation. Cancellations will be accepted until 24 hours prior to the day of arrival. Please obtain and retain a cancellation number. Failure to cancel a guaranteed reservation by at least 24 hours prior to the day of arrival will result in a charge of one night’s room and tax to the credit card on file or forfeiture of the advance deposit.

The Partnership is continuing to follow the best guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, public health departments, and Governor Newsom. As more information becomes available on a specific date to reschedule, we will be in touch.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Miranda Stiers at Miranda@cpedv.org.

In the meantime, and as we all know, Prevention Must Go On! – During these times of social distancing, our prevention efforts must continue. We are so excited to hear that many of you are already adapting your prevention programs to provide online community education through the use of webinars and social media. In times like these, we can also reach out and collaborate with local communications & media to work on the development of articles that address the prevention of violence, warning signs of abuse, and the impact of stress on our mental health, sharing accessible self-care and stress management ideas. It’s also a great time to work on updating prevention curricula, developing culturally responsive adaptations, or perhaps taking some time to update or develop your prevention logic model or evaluation tools. – In addition, if you are able to and it’s safe to do so, we invite you to collaborate with intervention staff to set up prevention efforts at the shelters or legal clinics. Those posters and fact sheets you’ve been wanting to set up around the offices, now is the time!

We are also happy to offer a number of opportunities for you to connect virtually with your prevention peers.

• Join a Community of Practice! These seven peer-to-peer centered online groups will launch this Spring and are being set up to support the implementation and evaluation of seven different areas of prevention. Fill out the interest forms to learn about the first session of each group!
• Join us next week for a Prevention Peer Network Webinar addressing prevention during these turbulent times. Knowing that folks are figuring out how to balance their work and home life, we’ve decided to move the webinar to next Thursday, March 26th from 10:30 a.m.-12: 30 p.m. Please join us where together, we will be addressing ways to Lead with Prevention During Social Distancing! We all know that Preventionists are like chameleons, adapting to the challenges they face. So join us as we tap into our collective creativity and support one another. Share and hear from others about ways in which to integrate prevention into intervention programs and adapt prevention programs to meet the needs of the communities we serve during these challenging times.
• Register for our next Prevention Peer Network call, which will be on March 27, 2020 at 2 p.m. This is an informal discussion where we get real about the unique challenges prevention folks experience when out in the community. This month’s discussion will focus on adapting curricula to be culturally responsive.
• We also have a Prevention Peers listserv which provides an opportunity for preventionists from across the state to connect, discuss challenges and successes. If you are not currently subscribed to the Prevention Peers listserv, please contact us. We will get you set up right away!

If you have any questions or are needing some support with your prevention efforts, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are in this together! Remember—we are Prevention Chameleons. We adapt and evolve to meet the needs around us. #PreventionAcrossCA

Miranda Stiers, Capacity-Building Program Specialist: Miranda@cpedv.org

Alejandra Aguilar, Statewide Prevention Program Specialist: Alejandra@cpedv.org